Deere Delivers Yet Another Dividend Hike

The Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) just delivered up yet another dividend hike. The company’s press release notes that this is the eleventh dividend hike since 2004. Deere last raised its dividend in February 2012.

The Deere board of directors has authorized an increase of the common stock dividend to a new $0.51 per share per quarter payout, and it will be payable on May 1, 2013, to stockholders of record on March 28, 2013. The hike is a five cent per share hike, which is a raise of about 11% in its payout.

At $87.05, the new dividend yield moves up from about 2.1% to a higher yield of 2.34% for new investors. Deere’s 52-week trading range is $69.51 to $95.60, and its market cap is $33.9 billion. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target objective of $99.83 for Deere’s shares.

This $2.01 per share annualized rate compares to a Thomson Reuters 2013 consensus earnings estimate of $8.59 per share. That is an income payout rate of only about 23.4%. Deere’s CEO Samuel Allen said on the dividend hike:

Our dividend increase reflects our confidence in our long term cash flows. Deere is well-positioned to benefit from major trends that we continue to believe hold great promise for the company and its customers and investors. We remain committed to our plans for profitably growing the company and returning cash to shareholders.